1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a support for supporting an umbrella over a door opening. More particularly, the present invention relates to an umbrella support adapted to be removably attached to a vehicle surface adjacent a vehicle door, to support an umbrella over the door opening to thereby shield the user as the user is loading or unloading articles into or out of the vehicle, and to permit the user to use both hands and simultaneously be beneath the umbrella and protected from precipitation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Umbrellas typically have a handle to enable the umbrella to be conveniently carried when the umbrella is in use to protect the user from precipitation. However, when one is carrying an umbrella in one hand and another article in the other hand, such as a shopper carrying a bag of groceries, or a mother carrying a child, access to the interior of a vehicle is awkward, because both hands are occupied, and one either must set down the article or child being carried, or set down the umbrella before gaining access to the vehicle. As a result, either the article or child gets wet or the user gets wet, each of which is an undesirable result. A similar awkward condition is presented when one approaches a vehicle to remove an article from the vehicle while holding an umbrella. Those simple tasks become cumbersome to the user, and may, in fact, require the user to completely abandon the umbrella if the tasks require the use of both hands, unless the umbrella can be independently mounted on the vehicle in such a way as to continue to provide protection to the user.
The problem to which the present invention is addressed has been recognized by others, and attempts to solve the problem have been proposed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,849, which issued on Jan. 7, 1986, to Vladimir Sirota, a housing adapted to be mounted directly to the roof of an automobile is provided to support an umbrella over a door opening. The housing holds an umbrella and permits automatic deployment over a door opening, with subsequent automatic folding and retrieval of the umbrella. However, that approach involves a mechanically complex and expensive structure that is permanently attached to the roof of the vehicle, and it can interfere with the mounting on the roof of other forms of carriers for other items, such as rooftop carriers for luggage, or the like.
Another approach to the problem of positioning an umbrella over a vehicle door opening is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,728, which issued on Sep. 29, 1992, to Catherine Stark. An umbrella is provided with magnetic fasteners mounted at the outermost edges of the ribs that support the canopy. The magnetic fasteners are adapted to contact the roof, and are magnetically retained on metallic roof to thereby serve to maintain the umbrella in position over a door opening. However, with the height of normal automobile roofs, about 50 inches or so, that approach does not allow sufficient room for the average adult to move around beneath an opened umbrella, without substantially bending over, because the umbrella canopy is mounted too low. Moreover, because the canopy of the umbrella is partially overlying the roof of the vehicle, that portion of the canopy is not available to protect the user. Additionally, it appears that the door must be opened before the umbrella can be properly positioned.
A further attempt at solving the problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,331, which issued on Feb. 23, 1993, to Gurney D. Baines, and which shows an umbrella support bracket for mounting to a vehicle. As shown, the bracket, which includes a telescoping post, is mounted in a fixed location within the vehicle's trunk. However, the use of the device is limited to the trunk area only, and it does not provide protection at the doors of the vehicle. Additionally, use of the device requires that the trunk first be opened, and the mounting post then be deployed, which requires two hands and therefore is of limited suitability.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the devices briefly described above.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a simple, inexpensive support arrangement for conveniently supporting an umbrella over a vehicle door opening to protect the user, and simultaneously to permit the user to load or unload the vehicle without exposing to precipitation either himself or the articles to be loaded or unloaded.